The Impact of Education

Education is known to have a strong positive impact on the standard of living of individuals and their communities; in rural areas of Kenya and Tanzania this has never been more important.

Mahuninga Primary School, Tanzania, Headteacher Petro Simu.

In a narrow office at Mahuninga Primary School, on the edge of Ruaha National Park, we sit with headteacher Petro Simu to discuss the challenges he and his colleagues face. The walls of the office are covered with educational posters and charts. One phrase leaps out: Teachers make all professions possible. It’s just five words, but it sums up the importance of education with precise clarity.

Access to education in Kenya and Tanzania has been significantly improved in recent years. Its importance in driving social and economic development forward is widely recognised throughout East Africa, and there is a genuine desire to see children enrolled at school. However, there remains a distinct divide in the educational quality between urban and rural areas.

Alongside our partner, the Kamitei Foundation, we have undertaken a project to improve education opportunities for children in rural schools bordering National Parks and key wilderness ecosystems. Here, the distinct rural/urban educational disparity is influenced by living standards. Differences in income, and access to services such as electricity and water are all too evident. The project primarily focuses on enhancing basic facilities, providing teaching materials, offering training, and granting scholarships to bright children.

The Tanzanian educational structure starts with two years of pre-primary schooling, followed by seven years of compulsory primary education. Children then move on to secondary education which is divided into four compulsory years at Ordinary Level, followed by two years of Advanced Level. Beyond this level, students may enter vocational training or study for a university degree.

Primary education is free, but the schools rely on parents and the community to fund supplies, building maintenance, and other associated costs. Many rural schools lack teaching and learning materials, including curriculum books and other materials used as teaching aids. International book donation schemes are often well-meaning but misguided. Often the books provided are out of date or depict Western people and lifestyles unrelatable to the students. What schools need are textbooks designed for their curriculum as an essential resource to facilitate effective learning.

Pupils of Mahuninga Primary School, Tanzania.

Even then, books alone aren’t a complete solution. Billy Marandu, a Field Officer for Kamitei, who has been visiting schools to assess the impact of having donated teaching and learning materials explains the issue. “The project has successfully delivered books and other learning materials to 20 schools so far. While some schools are using the materials, including textbooks well, we found in some the materials provided were just being stored on the shelves.”

Mahuninga Primary School headteacher Petro Simu acknowledges this is a problem he has heard of. “In some schools, they are afraid to use the books in case they get dirty and damaged. Mostly though, there aren’t enough teachers trained in modern methods, effective use of teaching or learning materials.” In his school they are making good use of the materials provided but face other challenges.

“We have so many students and the numbers are growing,” he explains. “What we need are desks; ensuring the quality of education is high is a challenge when classrooms are overcrowded and children are sitting on the floor, or we have four students crowded onto each desk. One of our classrooms is falling down, meaning that more children are squeezed into the remaining one,” he adds.

Part of Kamitei’s focus is to improve the unfinished classrooms that lack essential infrastructure like proper floors, windows, and doors. Their aim is to transform incomplete classrooms into fully equipped spaces that can support effective teaching and learning.

Of course, in all this, teachers are key. The recommended pupil-to-teacher ratio in primary schools is 45:1, but in many of the rural schools, this can reach 100:1. A lack of available trained teachers is compounded by poor transport and insufficient teacher housing. This is an area Kamitei are facing head-on, providing funded voluntary teacher courses that train participants in modern teaching methods, including how to use materials and teaching aids, and how to communicate well with students in the classroom.

Leonce Burra is a volunteer teacher at Kilimatembo Primary School in Tanzania, who participated in the teacher training. “I learned a lot of new skills on how to make lessons engaging,” he said.

“We also learned teacher-student interaction skills, and how to use the teaching resources to deliver the lessons in a creative way. It all increased my confidence, and in the future, I’d like to learn further skills to develop my teaching career.”

Educational continuity in rural villages is often hampered by economic constraints. Although secondary school fees have been abolished, indirect costs remain a significant barrier for many low-income families. As a result children, particularly in these rural areas, frequently transition to agricultural or livestock work post-primary school.

The burden disproportionately affects girls, who are often expected to take on caretaking responsibilities for younger siblings, limiting their access to further education. These circumstances highlight the complex interplay between poverty and limited educational opportunities in these communities.

To address this, Kamitei also provides individual scholarships to children spanning a number of years to ensure that the education leads to a point, like the completion of a secondary vocational degree, so the individual has good job prospects.

The Wildlife Tourism College of the Maasai Mara, Kenya.

In Kenya, the new Wildlife Tourism College of the Maasai Mara (WTC) has opened its doors to its first students. The WTC is the successor of the very successful Koyiaki Guiding School, famed for training world-class safari guides. However, there was a need to diversify skills and offer new courses beyond the scope of what the Guiding School was able to deliver.

Now, on the smart, new campus, students are pursuing various academic programmes, including tour guiding, front office, housekeeping, food and beverage services, environmental management, and wildlife management. The college also has an on-site hub for researchers in the heart of one of the most important wildlife areas in the world and this is attracting participants from international universities.

College principal, Morris Nabaala, brings 20 years of experience to overseeing the academic programs. “Education opens the door of opportunity and enlightens people,” he enthuses. “We’ve looked at where there are demands for employment locally and found most jobs were going to communities outside the Mara region, due to skill shortages.”

“We needed to look at what other jobs, outside of guiding, graduates could do and devise programmes to meet those needs. For example, in addition to guides, tourism employers have expressed a requirement for graduates trained as front office staff, so we now run a hospitality management course,” Morris adds.

The long-term benefits of improved education will further enable communities to benefit from the natural resources they live close to, run ongoing projects, or make informed decisions on how to protect the environment sustainably for the good of all. In classrooms across East Africa, there are brilliant young minds who will be integral to this future.